M.Comm. / The use of employee share schemes as a talent management strategy and as part of companies’ reward systems has gained impetus. Most employers make use of the share option schemes because they are believed to align the interests of employees with those of the company, offer succession planning opportunities, attract , retain best talent, and motivate employees. What needs to be established is whether employee share schemes do in fact effectively contribute towards talent management strategies and organisational performance. The current prevailing global economic landscape and the effect of globalisation combined with the global framebreaking talent war requires South African companies to attract and keep the best technical, managerial and supervisor skills to remain competitive. Talent management includes components such as skills retention and attract ion, employee motivation, reward systems, employment branding, employee value proposition and other relevant initiatives that instil employee sense of belonging.

Companies are under pressure to develop and design effective incentive schemes for their employees with an aim of attracting and retaining talent. Whilst other organisations consider various methods to motivate employees, employee share schemes have dominated the agenda in many companies. It is expected that share schemes would achieve the desired objective through aligning the objectives of the employer with those of the employees. In the study, employee perceptions of share schemes are investigated to establish if the above objective is maintained. A medium sized company listed on the JSE was selected for the study with 105 respondents being solicited for a population of 242. The results confirmed that employee shareholders do have perceptions ranging from expectations of empowerment to employee engagement in decision-making. The study contributes to the body of knowledge and research in remuneration strategies for today‟s work environment, and makes recommendations for companies with the intention to improve the worker‟s social well-being. Copyright / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Organisations are continuously re-engineering human resource strategy in order to attract, motivate and retain the best possible talent possible. This is a continuous process because strategies are quickly copied and replicated within industries. Share schemes have been used over a long period of time to attract, motivate and retain employees. The dawn of democracy in South Africa has seen the introduction of broad based black economic empowerment share schemes in a number of organisations. Organisations implemented these share schemes not only to improve BEE score rating but to motivate and retain employee.This research studies the impact that B-BBBEE share schemes have had on employee motivation and retention at a South African organisation. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted